boston. >> good evening, everyone. welcome to al jazeera america.. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. 3d guns, plastic printed now at the center of a national debate. tonight, the science of how they are made. spy gaming. the nsa searching for real evil doers in the world of fantasy, titans of attack, are send their news to washington. bitcoin america. what is this new kind of currency? we have everything you need to know. and remember nelson mandela. president obama, the first lady

and from people from around the world, arrivings in south africa. -- arriving in south africa. it is 6:00 a.m. in johannesburg and already, the crowds are forming for the official state memorial service for nelson mandela. it's not scheduled to start for about five more hours. it was a rainy night and some umbrellas this morning, more rain. 94,000, in the stadium, but authorities are expecting a lot more. about four other stadiums have been secured that totally that would fill about 125,000 more people if that overflow is needed. of course security is tight with all of the dignitaries arriving throughout the day. we are monitoring this event. we are going to have a live report on the latest developments on the scene in just a little while.

the state will be in attendance according to president obama and first lady michelle obama. jonathan betz has more on that. >> it's going to be a who's who of dignitaries. according to 100 have rsvped so far. oprah winfrey and the spice girls. mandela once called them his heros. european head of state. mandela was also close with cuba so its president, raul castro will also be there. hassan rouhani is also coming, the palestinian president, but not benjamin netanyahu. he is concerned about the high security and transportation cost. and the dalai lama.

all these powerful people will be in one huge soccer stadium so obviously it is a big target. much of johannesburg will be shut down. security in south africa will likely be as high as it's ever been. >> i'm sure the teams charged with the from security of those dignitaries i'm sure are liaising to make sure this comes off without a hitch. >> enormous spillovers will be set up. likely to be the largest memorial service in decades. >> jonathan betz. as al jazeera's ali velshi tells us the civil rights icon

was unable to bring about some changes. >> they couldn't live within the city limits proper. this is actually parts of johannesburg and a lot of the people who live here work in johannesburg or pretoria. they have got power they have, on top of the houses you can't see them that clearly but they have water tanks, hot water, the streets have electricity, the streets are paved, that's the promise. so many people who live in these town shirpships live in shantie. this area was supposed to house 90,000 people. by the way, we are less than a couple of miles from the richest part of africa where there are month millionaires than anywhere

in any other part of the country. talk about haves and have nots we're right in the middle of this in postapartheid south africa. the memorial service for nelson mandela, as you see live pictures of people coming to fmb stadium. 4:00 a.m. eastern, 1:00 a.m., many pacific time. the weather is having a ripple affect around the area, cameras captured sheets of ice sliding right off the top of the building. and in baltimore, several schools were closed today, after school buses were left out of commission from all the snow and ice. kevin corriveau is tracking this storm to give us the latest. kevin. >> the one caused all the damage

is now making its way out here towards the atlantic. we have another phase coming and that's the one that's going to bring a lot of snow across the northeast. connecticut to virginia, we're expected to see two to four inches of snow in this next round that is coming here. let's look at the board. winter storm warnings as you can see the dark blue ones are the ones we are concerned about. they have extended this over the next incumbent of hours. this is going to be the line that we see much of the problems in terms of snow. this darker area that you see just to the northwest of new york city, that is where we expect to see most of the snow. new york city about two inches of snow i think is going to be maximum -- max in some locations, new jersey, new york, temperatures are not going to go above freezing once it starts to snow. so anything left on the ground is not going to melt.

tuesday, wednesday, that's going to be aproblem. even though the storm has made its way out, we will see more snow on the ground. it may melt but refreeze. i'll bring you more as we go into the show. >> all right kevin thank you. the white house wants congress to extend an emergency benefits program one that expires at the end of the month. critics say that doesn't help people get back into the workplace. jennifer glasse reports from newark, new jersey. >> everything that sarah drinker does is get her unemployment benefits. >> get the rest of the money. >> her full time job is getting a job. >> 3:00 this morning i was up on the computer. >> she's been out of work since january and joined the ranks of the unemployed last winter. >> i send out add least 25

resumes a day, at least. >> things are tighter now. >> i'm on pins and needles because the rent has to be paid. >> it would be better to move back to the standard 26 weeks, the idea of unemployment benefits is to be a cushion when you lose work. to give you a little bit of time to search. it's not to be a permanent replacement for having a job. >> new jersey's unemployment rate has consistently been 1% higher than the rest of the country. nationwide 1.3 million people stand to lose their benefits if congress doesn't extend them. the state with the most long term unemployed is california. in san jacinto vanessa has been out of work for 15 months. her husband will is also out of work. >> for me the job search is grueling. >> she was on disability for a while and welfare and registered

for unemployment three months ago. if congress doesn't extend benefits her 152 weeks will drop to 132, she is worried how she will feed her 10-year-old and newborn. >> those in upper government who go and have $100 lunches and difference, we live off of $250 a day of food. -- 2.50 a day of food. >> she says she will do whatever she can to make ends meet. and she says she doesn't want to live this way. >> ought the motivation in the -- all the motivation in the world will not make someone hire you. >> and for sarah -- >> i got a job interview, y'all. >> jennifer glasse, al jazeera, new jersey.

>> congress decided to renew the ban against those guns that can be made on a 3d printer but didn't get the kind of restrictions they wanted to pass. >> we would ideally like to do the senator from florida and i, say those tierps of guns as well as those guns that are purely plastic should be illegal. and a gun must have some metal in it that can't be removed easily. and those guns would be legal. but those guns couldn't be smuggled through metal detectors. >> 3d means anyone can make just about anything at home. here is a report. >> a year ago, aziil raskin bought a 3d photoprinter, then

he started to make keys. >> i constantly locked myself out of my apartment. in fact i picked up a lock pick set just so i could lock pick myself back into my apartment. hey, instead of walking all the way back downtown, to make a copy of a key i can print one at home. >> he realized he could make other people's keys just by taking pictures of them on a cell phone. he says he can now photograph any normal key, one sitting on top of a tbar somewhere, feed the image into his 3d printer and produce a working copy. >> keys are very simple. all you have to do is outline the shape, the 2 d shape and you are okay. >> how about the thickness? >> it doesn't have to be thick enough, those cren you ulationsn

top, those are just not important. >> he says he's knot looking into breaking into anyone's home he just wanted to make a point. >> my hope is that people realize that keys are a terribly outdated mode of being secure. these things are really just senses of false security. and we have to move to something much better. >> the thing about trying to regulate 3d printing is 3d printing really transforms what it means to make or own or sell something. 3d guns are not possessions at all, they are plans that can be downloaded at will and with the right plans you can make anything. >> once you know the secret you can make the secretly. the secret is the shape. if i can get a picture of it, i have it.

>> get out of town! that's amazing. >> yes. i don't ever get to get your key replaced. >> wow! >> 3d printing may still be in its infancy. but it has the ability to change all our ideas of property and privacy in the future. >> john, when you wrap your mind around being able to print almost anything in the future, things that are forbidden and regulated. >> i have got lots of question. how many of these exist in the country and how many people know how to pull off that feat that we just saw? >> 3d printers have been around since the'80s. there are many hundreds of these

printers in circulation now. companies like maker bot are the best known. azer raskin is a very, very smart guy, one of these silicon valley geniuses. it's becoming easier and easier to make it. plans on the internet that you can download and print them out and they'll make almost anything you like. >> there are negatives but positives. what impact does this have on manufacturing? >> i don't want to vilify anything about printing, but kick-starter lets anyone fund a public project, that has been made possible by 3d printing. people can make custom watches all kinds of lifesaving devices, students can prototype medical equipment in really rapid order in a way that you would have required millions of dollars and years to do in the past.

so it's quite revolutionary but the privacy concerns are brand-new. >> jake, thanks so much. coming up. spies and warlocks. why? has the agency gone too far? plus big money. get ready for the bitcoin revolution and live pictures from johannesburg where the rain continues to fall as the crowd continues to gather as a memorial for nelson mandela. we'll have more in a live report right after this.

>> welcome back everyone. we continue our coverage of the memorial for nelson mandela which is scheduled to happen in johannesburg a little less than five hours from now at the fmb stadium. as you can see rain is falling, as we prepare to go inside our

own haru matassa, haru what's the situation right now? >> well, can you see the stadium behind me fmb stadium holds up to 90,000 people. it's cold, it's raining but people have come out in big numbers waiting to get inside. the gates should open soon. they keep saying open the gates, open the gates, they're getting impatient. blacks and whites all want to go inside and pay tribute to nelson mandela. he is a man whose has managed all across the world all these people are waiting to get in and going to be a very momentous occasion. people are actually looking forward to faster proceedings. police are telling people to be patient. when they're opened they will come in here where they will be searched bir th by the police.

things should start in a few hours. >> haru, obviously it's been raining all night. i don't know what the forecast is for today. is the rain expected to dampen some of these crowds, or not? >> well, no. people don't think so. i think even if you consider the rain a lot of people are still making their way here. in fact we are told buses and trains are headed this way. and in this part of the world rain is a good sign. it's a good thing. when it rains maybe at a funeral in some culture it's a blessing so to speak. people are looking forward to it. clearly the rain hasn't dampened their mood at all. it's going to be a very momentous occasion. people will-- the service will start at 11:00 local time here. ban ki-moon will be speaking, nelson mandela's grandchildren will pay a special tribute to their grandfather. it will be a very moving day,

lots of people are excited. >> as we understand it, that stadium can hold about 94,000 people but they have overflow stadiums set up around johannesburg as well. can you explain? glk exactly. you can -- >> exactly. you can imagine as many people as possible wants to have a chance to say good-bye to nelson mandela. this stadium, three other stadiums as well. and then there are public viewing areas, a place where big screens will be set up across the country where people can go and sit and watch the proceedings. you can imagine everyone, most people want to be part of it but it's just not possible. to come and be part of it. actually they'll all head to the public viewing areas and watch the proceedings from there.

>> white house and congress tighter control of the collection of personal data and also promotes individual privacy. now video gamers may not be safe from nsa spying either. according to documents leaked by a former government contractor edward snowden the u.s. and u.k. have spent years monitoring online games for security threats. some games, world of war craft and halo from gamers who can log months of the game i, joining is david phillip graham, an avid gamer. but an attorney who specializes in this issue. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> why would the government consider these games a threat to national security? >> well, i don't think that's entirely clear. it seems like they began the search for the intention to go

through games kind of before they had really decided that there were any terrorists involved. the new york times and the guardian recording makes that clear. and since then they actually have not found any instances of terrorism at all. so their search, the reasons for it, kind of hard to figure out i think. >> could it be one possible scenario that they -- that there are people there that they believe are involved in bad things and they want to watch their activity, i mean that's what would make the most sense, right? >> that would make sense. but again it doesn't seem like there's any indication that that's the case. the group of people who play video games in general, it's a very diverse group. there are many millions of people. you mentioned that x box live even is being monitored. there are 48 million people across the world who are on that. but some of the things that do draw them together are you know, a little bit more

tech-savviness, a little bit more kind of economic status. and those aren't the things that you would expect to look at, if you are looking for terrorists. >> you know world of war craft had a response to our broadcast and this is what they said. they said we are unaware of any surveillance taking place. if it was, it would have been done without our knowledge or our permission. why would they go to these particular games? >> well, these are very common games. lots and lots of people, many millions play, and played world of war craft. the sairm for x box -- same for x box live. it's a very diverse games and set of players. x box live is another was mentioned, second life is known for being a little bit grimier in some ways. looking at that there have been cases, criminal cases brought against people for certain

activities in second life. but again, that's criminal and not terrorist. >> let's go on the flip-side. i mean you're an attorney you're also an avid gamer. what laws do you think the government might have broken? >> well, i think the government's actions not only break the laws that are on the books but are unconstitutional as well. the government, you know a lot of this is based on the patriot act. but their interpretation of the patriot act is so strained, that some of the people who wrote it in the house, sensenbrenner for example, have acted to kind of repeal it or they've been very clear what their distaste for it for what's happened. their interpretation of it relies on some words of very -- some very particular words, that the statutory construction of which is a little bit shady. on top of that there are very

major constitutional concerns, fourth amendment, fifth amendment concerns i think are a major issue. and for this to be you know largely in the past it's been very secretive. the court, the fic court has been very secretive. and to have so much secret law i think calls into question kind of the nature of what is legal, and of what is law. it's a problem for the constitutional and for -- constitution and for the philosophy of law i think. >> david phillip graham it's good to have you on the program. thanks for joining us tonight. >> thank you. >> thailand's prime minister says she will not resign ahead of elections despite demands. rallies continue throughout bangkok.

rallying crowds demand her resignation. drones topping the agenda. pakistan officials say the unmanned aircraft take too many lives. leaving afghanistan through pakistan because of process test over the use of drones. now to the deadly sectarian violence in the central african republic. this afternoon, president obama called for calm and peace in the area and protecting civilians caught in the cross fire. french troops and equipment from brune dito thburundi to the car. john terrett takes a look at the

history of violence in the central african republic. >> john, the central african republic is a vast country. for example, it has a land mass of 240,000 square miles. it is situated as the name suggests smack in the middle of the continent, bordered by chad, sudan, and cameroon. look at this, it's bigger than spain and portugal in europe put together. in 2012 it had a population of just about 4.6 million people. the main language spoken is french. it is a former french colony. now the car rarely made the news the at all, until muslim took are power from a christian. a whopping 460,000 people, 10%,

have been displaced bithe fighting. approximately 1.1 million people are camped outside the capital, bangui, many of them at the international airport. a small force was mobilized by the african union but unable to stop the takeover earlier this year. the president michel djotodia, was unable to stop, and the christian group known as the antibatadia, are fighting back. djotodia admitted he has lost control of the situation. the security council voted to beef up the mission in the car by sending in 1600 african

passions keepers. time is running out and the fear is if the bloodshed continues it can soon spread and drag in some of these countries in the region. john. >> john terrett reporting, thank you. next, the bitcoin boon. we'll tet tell you everything you need to know about it. plus, rocker melissa ethridge taking on the subject of homophobia at the be 2014 olympics.

>> welcome back to al jazeera america.. i'm john siegenthaler in new york. the scheduled start for the

advertisthetuesday johannesburgl service for nelson mandela, the stadium seats 94,000. hopes are that many, many more will want to enter the stadium. david rice is professor of african affairs at the center for global affairs. professor it's good to see you. >> thank you. >> give me a sense of what you expect to happen today. clearly this is a momentous event in the history of south africa. will crowds be a problem? >> i don't think they will. as we have seen in the days since president mandela's death, crowds have been jubilant, peaceful, supportive, very diverse. people have just been celebrating his life and his legacy. and i think that people will

carry that through, today, it might be a bit of a logistic headache for the authorities there but i think you see the spirit of people is one of jubilation and unity, and hopefully that will carry itself through any logistics regarding the number of people that are trying to attend. >> you talked about the logistics and i mean with dozens of heads of state planning to attend, this from a security standpoint and you're not a security expert but this is going to be a very, very difficult day for them, i would assume. >> well, i think that you know, the unfortunately, president mandela was sick for such a long time that governments in the u.s. and europe and other parts of the world have probably been reluctantlilyreluctantly plannir a long time. in order to attend this event, i

don't think president obama, it would be possible for he and other heads of state had a contingency plan for this type of celebration. >> obviously people have been mourning and very sad that nelson mandela has died but there is such jubilation about what he did in south africa. what else do you expect to see from this event today? >> well, i think there will be a lot of tearful remembrance. i think you will see a lot of joy. it seems in these days of this mourning period, people will ask themselves, what are their lives like, after apartheid, what will south africa be like now that he's gone and what kind of leadership do they expect and what kind of leadership do they deserve? >> this is just a part of the celebration, which will go on for many days, right? >> that's correct. this is a ten day memorial. >> well, professor, we appreciate you joining us and

sharing your insight and we'll continue to talk to you later on. thanks very much. >> thank you. >> here's a look of what will be taking place over the next few days as the world says good-bye to nelson mandela. wednesday through friday the former south african president's body will be laid in state in pretoria. it will be laid to rest in cape town province. the service here will begin at 4:00 a.m., 1:00 a.m. pacific time. we turn now to bitcoins, they are expensive, bought and sold at atms and accepted by more and more stores. but forful americans they are a complete mystery, that's why we have jarrod levy to explain. what is the a bitcoin and what

do they do? >> well, the first thing to remember is a bitcoin is not a printed money. it is not as if there is a bunch of coins hanging around and you trade them that way. it is virtual currency. 21 million bitcoins printed or created when all this is over, about halfway through creation of bitcoins and all it is is essentially like a virtual currency. if you say jarrod i want to pay you 100, i'd say go ahead and pay me a bitcoin, you would send me about an 8th of a bitcoin for my payment and you and i would agree to that payment. the problem is bitcoin payment is volatile. >> so what sort of approximate does that cause? >> well you think about it right? because bitcoin is virtual and because it is not based on any

asset remember even a fiat currency is backed by the currency of that specific country. bitcoin isn't backed by anything. it is based on some arbitrary value that we sort of assign to it. john the problem is until bitcoin becomes more widely accepted, until it sort of is tied to an asset, until i can say okay, can i buy a porsche 9/11 which costs about 100,000, i know what that value is, the merchants exchange it for the local currency, i'm looking for bitcoin plays and right now, we don't have that. >> where can you use bitcoins now? >> online, a lot of retailers, believe it or not, there are some retailers that are accepting them. mostly you are going to find fragmented retailers, a lot of them overseas, not in the u.s.,

do your homework. there is no regulation, there is no regulatory body that covers bitcoin. they are tied oto the local currency that they are located in. if they are in europe they're probably tied to the euro. >> the fact that a lot of people don't take them, why don't just use money? i'm not really sure i understand. >> (laughing) because it's funny, bitcoin struck at such a time. it was created at the height of the financial crisis. is a it any way you want. people are generally, i don't want to say antigovernment but we don't like big brother. bitcoin is free currency, it's a freeway to exchange. it's a bunch of ious that are not tied to any government. that's the essence of why you would use bitcoin. >> bitcoin is almost an

antigovernment statement is that the way you would describe it? >> to an extent. its create says now we have a currency where we don't have a trust or something like that were the words he used. we are not in trust of anybody. no government is in trust of it, it's in trust of each other. that's the basis of it. everybody involved in bitcoin sort of look out for one another. the miners that are involved, it's a peer system where people are working together. slightly utopian, maybe, there are people who do hack into it. but i think it's of the future. >> i hope you have fun with that porsche 911. thanks for joining us. >> thank you john. >> smaifer's deputies are now -- sheriff's deputies are now facing charges, accused of corruption and civil rights, at

the downtown l.a. facilities. charges include a lengthy investigation of the los angeles jail system. bankruptcy case of detroit could influence how other cities handle financial woes. like the city of stockton, california, owes millions to creditors. not so merry prospect. as a retired city worker of bankrupt stockton his pension is in peril. >> they don't have any real concern about what happens to people and their families that lose their medical care. and if we lose our pension, then i'll probably lose my house. >> in the era of boom before the financial crisis bust, stockton made some costly mistakes over

building and investing in pricey city projects including a stadium and marina and providing a generous some say exorbitant pension for employees. its plan made cuts just about everywhere, even in basic services such as police officers and firefighters. crime skyrocketed. >> this is an ugly, ugly thing. bankruptcy is something that we really didn't wish we had to do. once you get there you don't have a whole lot of options to get out. >> but one thing stockton wouldn't do is cut pensions. not only protect city workers' pensions it would allow them to grow the same as they were before. that say critics would not be sustainable. that's where detroit enters the picture. bankruptcy follows federal law. the brips petition is following

state law. if the same judge makes the call to cut pensions, you have a federal decision colliding with state laws. >> because we are dealing with the tension between state's rights and the 10th amendment and the federal bankruptcy code this is likely to have to be decided at the supreme court level to get to a definitive answer. >> california state law protects public pensions. stockton has come up with other ways to reduce costs including abandoning retiree health care and passing a higher sales tax. >> we have made drastic reductions in our workforce which again reduces the liability we would have for the pensions going forward. we have also made drastic reductions in the actual pay that our employees receive. >> the detroit decision paves the way for at least one creditor and a coalition of lenders. >> we lost our medicals, we've taken a hit.

it's not like let's say all the creditors taken a hit but the employees didn't, we did, we took a big hit. >> it's become a complicated matter one for alfred and those like him across the country who face a less secure and cozy future. melissa chan, al jazeera, stockton, california. nearly five years ago, to save the struggling auto maker but that cost the american taxpayers. the taxpayers paid $50 billion to recoup gm but recovered only about 39 billion. that was less than it would have cost the country, says the government, to let gm go under. the new violence for brazil and the safety fears for the game. plus fizzled out, the mystery of why beer sales are

plunging. and we go back to johannesburg where the crowd is beginning to fill into the stadium there as they remember the man they call madiba. nelson mandela. we'll have more after this. tbl. interesting people of our time. >> you're listening because you want to see what's going to happen. >> i want to know what works what do you know works? >> conversations you won't find anywhere else. >> talk to al jazeera. >> only on al jazeera america. >> oh my!

>> beer sales are tapping out in the u.s. sales have gone down by about 3% in the last 5 years. some brands have seen as much as 70% decline. analysts say consumers are turning to drinks with higher alcohol content. the winter olympics are less

than two years away, promising to protest russia's crack down on gay rights. singer melissa ethridge, co-founder of up, of love. irasked her is that how the organization got started. >> you can't even talk about being gay, stop there. the entertainment industry we all got together in one place and said what can we do? this is what we can do. we know that we have a way into people's hearts and into people's, entertaining is a way into people. and so let's see if we can cause an uprising here, change people's -- change their fear, change their outrook, instead of i'm not going to go in there and change their laws, that's not going to work.

you're going to change their hearts, that's what we're after. >> how do you change their hearts? >> i know 20 years ago, when i came out, it's about saying yes i'm gay. now you know a gay person. see that i'm human, i want to do. >> greg: good, i want to be a contributing -- i want to do good, i want to be a contributor to society, you start being yourself. to lower the fear. it's funny because this is not something that you would think oh i want to donate money to. but what it does, the russia freedom fund, where you can go donate money for an uprising of love.org. i'm trying to remember all the things for that. you know, you give money to help these -- the lgbt organizations in russia which not only have no funding but the people are afraid of their lives if they work for. that's what we're working for. >> uprising of love, the song.

we have got the olympics coming up in russia and there are plenty of people in this country who are asking the question, well, do we boycott the olympics, do we go to russia, what do you say? >> i feel now that boycotting i think that's last-century. i think because of the way our world is instantly, instantly in contact with each other, we know what happens all over the world at all times. that to be involved in it, to send messages, to send love, to show up, i hope that i can go to russia. i hope that it can be a place of helping people be strong, to be themselves in a country. >> so do you see yourself going to russia for olympics? would you go have a concert there? what's in the future? >> that's where these -- nowadays people are so

organized. there's organizations that are helping me, because i did, i went to them and said, what can i do? and it's connecting with the lgbt communities in russia. yes, we are working on can i go, can i go sing this song, can i go to the olympics, what is the most nonthreatening, because i don't want to threaten anyone, i just want to be myself in a place and bring a message of hope. >> tell me a story behind the song, where did it come from? >> i have to look in and say what am i writing, what am i wanting here, my eyes are wide open recognizing change, it feeds the fire of the fear where human love is strange. i want ooh to start an uprising, it's about myself. that came from how do i want -- how do i want to stand up in front of the world which is what i get to do now is stand up in front of the world and say i believe this.

come with me. we are going to start an uprising. it can be cheesy but it's dangerous. >> is it meant to put pressure on vladimir putin the russian president? >> it's meant to reach russian gays, russian children who are gay? how can you rise up against this and say i'm against this when my own children are like this my own brother my uncle or me. >> i wish you the best of luck and thank you for coming by. >> i appreciate that. thank you so much for this. >> and right to activates in the fight against homophobia. ross shimabuku is with sports.

this is video that is very, very powerful, violence in soccer is very powerful with fans. >> images are very powerful, damage control for the upcoming world cup. the chaos started early in the match as hundreds of fans as you can see started going against one another with metal pipes. they were kicking each other and it was a wild scene all around. four peep were injured in fact one person had to be carried off on a stretcher and was air lifted to a local hospital by a helicopter that had to land on the pitch. the chaos finally broke up, police fired rubber bullets to disperse the rowd. only three people were arrested. that's the concern in brazil. when these riots take place no one is held accountable. >> this took place after the

2014 world cup draw right? what is saying about that? >> she is actually taking out enforcing a police force to kind of control the crowds. >> so this raises more concerns really about this than it does answers. so i mean how do they -- how does soccer officials get control of this? >> right now fifa the soccer organization, is trying to get control of this. it is different than a federation cup match. there are 80 security officers compared to 900 security officers at a world cup match. they feel the higher ticket prices will also prevent such violence happening at the world cup in june. they want to concentrate on the action on the pitch not what's happening off the pitch. >> thank you so much ross, kevin

corriveau has the weather. and off the coast, whales are putting on a show to remember. and we continue to watch tens of thousands of people to begin to fill into the stadium in joaftion south afric johanner the official service for nelson mandela. >> i thought i was gonna die... on america tonight on al jazeera america

>> audiences are intelligent and they know that their

>> off the coast of california it's a whale watcher's paradise, a majestic sight but one that puzzles scientists, jake ward has more. >> it has been a fantastic season for whale watchers in monterey california. an unusual explosion of anchovies have taken over the bay here. >> we have seen anchovies more than we have seen in the past ten, 20 years. >> and that increased food supply has is an unprecedented

displace displai of hump back whales. also killer whales after the seals and see lions. it's like a wwf brawl here in the sea off of monterey. the sea lions herd the anchovies, and the whales can stun the anchovies, stunned by the whales monstrous bodies. >> whales are beautiful but they don't smell good. >> 25 years ago here in the monterey bay, it would be unusual to see any hump back whales no matter what kind of year. >> the more tomorrow on whale

hunting has brought them back. this year there are at least 200. scientists like baldo marinovich, can't explain it, it may simply be an upwell of cold nutrient rich water that attracted the fish, but there is also worry that climate change is at work here. >> there is not immediate cause for concern, in fact there's immediate cause for celebration, it's been a huge boon to the local economy and raised the profile of marine research and ocean awareness so that's a good thing. but will this be a harbinger of worse things to come? that's very much in question. >> for mike sack and his crew, the steady business is good news. but even after so many years on the water, he isn't immune to

seeing these whales up close. >> you need to see these things every day and you still say, wow. >> i love it every time i see it. a hump back whale or any whale throw up that tail fluke, it's amazing. >> in the world full of bad news, in this one place, it's been a very happy summer. jacob ward, al jazeera, monterey, california. >> as we get to those colder months, we need to turn our attention to syria and the refugees that are on the turkish side of the border. since the last two and a half years we're now up to about 500,00500,000 refugees to the nf syria. we have a winter storm that is coming here and in the next few days we expect to see if 12 inches of snow just in this

region. with such a high population of people they are running out of fuel for cooking, they are running out of fuel for heating and unfortunately we don't see any help in this area over the next couple of months. so this is a situation we will be following as we go into the colder months. here in the united states we are also dealing with very cold air clear across the central plains. the temperatures here have been probably the coldest we have seen so far this season. we are actually looking at blizzard conditions across the region. right now bismarck is at 8, fargo is at 3°, you factor in the wind chill we're well below zero, many locations even chicago are under zero°. visibility below a quarter of a mile, as well as winds 35 mile-per-hour so as you can imagine, driving in this area is very dangerous right now. for minneapolis, well you are going to have delays at the airport. we're looking at 11° with snow coming down all day long getting

a little bit better on wednesday, expect delays that's the major transfer point for all those delta as well as other flights coming in. out here towards the southwest it is hard freeze warnings. now last week we had the same thing. san joaquin valley as well as southern nevada, and vegetables especially leafy vegetables, across that area. hard freeze warnings along the coast for many people there. tomorrow's lows look like this, las vegas, 25° when you wake up. of course the temperature will rise fairly quickly but los angeles you're not far behind. we expect to see a temperature of 25°. san diego, park city, going to be a little bit warmer plenty of snow for skiing across that area. this is the look at your national weather, have a great evening.

>> welcome to al jazeera america. i'm john siegenthaler in new york and here are the top stories. it's 7:00 a.m. in johannesburg and the gates to the stadium where the official memorial for nelson mandela will be held. these are live pictures now. more than 100 world leaders plan to attend including president obama and his wife mrs. obama. the stadium holds 90,000 people but many more are expected to show up. al jazeera america will hold extended coverage, starting at 4:00 a.m. eastern, 1:00 a.m. pacific. winter weather advisors